Thatcher and Hatton Garden—the best television in May 2019

 

Thatcher

BBC2, expected early May

This major five-part documentary marks 40 years since Britain’s first female prime minister came to power in 1979, with the largest swing from Labour to the Tories since the Second World War. Margaret Thatcher would go on to define her era. This film traces her rise and fall—from shopkeeper’s daughter to world leader. Revered by some, hated by many, she was ultimately brought down by her own party. The key figures of the age grapple with the woman and her legacy.

 

Hatton Garden

ITV

On Good Friday, 2015, four men entered the Hatton Garden safe deposit vault in London’s jewellery quarter. It was the start of one of the most audacious burglaries in British history. When it turned out that the gang were pensioners, the story took on a new dimension. Three films have already been made about the raid. This four-part drama, created by Jeff Pope and starring Timothy Spall and Kenneth Cranham, was delayed by legal issues but promises to be the definitive take on the events of that Easter weekend.

 

Good Omens

Amazon, 31st May

Benedict Cumberbatch is the voice of Satan and Frances McDormand the voice of God in this lavish adaptation of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s collaborative 1990 novel. The action takes place as the Apocalypse approaches. If you can imagine Mad Men’s Jon Hamm as the Angel Gabriel, David Tennant as a demon who has been living on Earth since the dawn of creation and likes things the way they are, and Jack Whitehall as the descendant of a 17th-century witchfinder, you’re halfway there. It promises to be great fun.